GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -The United States, France and Britain urged Rwanda to flee on Sunday over its support for rebels who were quickly taking over eastern Congo’s largest city.
As fighters from the M23 rebel movement look to enter the city of Goma, the U.N. Security Council met early Sunday to discuss fighting that has killed three U.N. peacekeepers in the past two days.
Rebels have made rapid advances in Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich but conflict-ridden eastern borderlands this month, raising fears that fighting could spill over into a regional war.
Rwanda denies allegations by the UN and others that it supports M23.
“M23 attacks on peacekeepers supported by the RDF must stop immediately,” James Kariuki, Britain’s deputy representative to the United Nations, told the council meeting, using the acronym for Rwanda’s army.
In addition to the three UN peacekeepers – two South Africans and one Uruguayan – seven South African soldiers and three from Malawi were also killed this week, South African and UN authorities also said.
Condemning “Rwanda and M23’s hostilities on Goma” and US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea called for a ceasefire.
“The United States will consider all tools at its disposal to hold accountable those responsible for perpetuating armed conflict, instability and insecurity,” she said.
France’s UN ambassador called on Rwanda to withdraw its troops from Congolese territory.
Rwanda regrets the deteriorating situation in eastern Congo, its UN ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo told the council, adding that “the current crisis could have been averted had (Congo’s) government shown a real commitment to peace”.
Three years after their uprising, the M23 rebels now control more Congolese territory than ever before and have vowed to seize Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, and house about 1 million people.
The fire and artillery barrage broke out early Sunday on the outskirts of the city, residents said.
In the afternoon, the rebels approached Goma airport, two government soldiers said. A Congolese government spokesman told state television that the army contained the attacks.
As night fell, power went out in the city, several people in Goma said.
Humanitarian crises fears
The head of the UN mission in Congo Bintou Keita said M23 and Rwandan forces had penetrated the outer edges of the city.
“The roads are blocked and the airport can no longer be used for evacuation or humanitarian efforts. M23 has declared the airspace over Goma closed,” she said.
“In other words, we’re trapped.”
Eastern Congo remains a tinder box of rebel zones and militia after two successive regional wars stemming from the Rwandan genocide.
M23, the well-trained and professionally armed rebel movement in a long line of Tutsi-led rebel movements, claims to protect Congo’s ethnic Tutsi population.
But Congo’s government says the rebels are proxies for Kigali’s expansionist ambitions in the region, a charge the Rwandan government has long denied.
Congo severed all diplomatic ties with Rwanda amid this week’s rebel offensive.
Congo’s army said on Saturday that Rwandan snipers were responsible for the frontline killing of the military governor of North Kivus a day earlier.
A government spokesman in Rwanda did not respond to a request for comment.
Aid agencies are concerned about the conflict’s impact on civilians, with fighting deepening one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Civilians have fled several combat zones since the start of the latest M23 offensive on January 23, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator’s office said in a statement from Goma.
“Several sites on the outskirts of Goma, sheltering more than 300,000 displaced people, were completely emptied within hours,” the statement said.
The escalation in violence has forced the World Food Program to temporarily pause emergency operations, the agency said on Sunday.
